Michigan affirmative action case delayed

Posted Thu, December 6th, 2012 3:46 pm by Lyle Denniston

Efforts by Michigan officials to speed up the Supreme Court’s consideration of the major new case on the use of race in college admissions have now been slowed, making it a near certainty that the case could not be decided in the current Term. The Court has now issued a routine order to put off, until February 4, the filing of a response by the challengers to a state ban on such affirmative action plans. Pushing the case into February will make it impossible, without a highly unusual shortening of normal scheduling, to get the case before the Justices before the summer recess.

The blog reported yesterday that state officials were hoping that the steps necessary to prepare the case for the Justices would be completed in time for consideration in January. That was dependent upon a very tight schedule, with some uncertainties about whether it would be met. The postponement of the filing date for a brief in opposition now has ended that prospect. The delay in filing came in a request by attorneys representing some of those who had challenged the state ban, citing “the press of other litigation deadlines.”

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On Friday, April 3, Justice Stephen Breyer spoke to students at the United Nations International School in New York City. The justice gave his talk remotely via video call, while self-quarantining at home in Massachusetts with his wife and daughter.